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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27824305">They Are Lock and Key</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, F/M, Iroh Ships Them, Zuko Can't Cook, more fleshed out myths, they are in love your honor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:48:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>485</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27824305</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>They fit. That's what matters</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katara/Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>ZK Drabble December 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>They Are Lock and Key</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my third and, unfortunately, final piece for ZK Drabble December. I have a novel that requires my attention as well as an essay and two research papers. This is for the prompt "Lock and Key" for day nine. You'll notice I have a thing about Zuko and stories. And also Modern AUs</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Locks and keys are specially made for each other. A key is made to fit into a lock. People compare soulmates to socks, but Zuko doesn’t think that’s right. </p><p>Once you find your person, you find them forever. The problem with socks is they can be lost, sucked through the washing machine or you can switch pairs. You may lose a key, but you can almost always find it. </p><p>Zuko thinks that he and Katara are lock and key. He can’t imagine life without her and her laugh. The way she smiles after he’s done one of his terrible impressions.</p><p>She’s taught him how to make traditional Southern Water Tribe cuisine. In turn, he’s done his best to show her Fire Nation dishes, but he almost always ends up setting something on fire. She puts it out, and he instructs her from afar. </p><p>She’ll visit him at the tea shop and brush the tea leaves from his apron as best as she can. It gives Zuko shivers as her hands dance over chest. Iroh winks at him when Katara’s back is turned. </p><p>Katara turns her head when they’re walking through the park and looks up at everything in wonder. Zuko doesn’t quite know what she’s looking for, but he knows he loves the marvel her face holds. </p><p>She gets cold rather easily and pulls Zuko close to warm up. The way they fit together, curled up in a little ball, Zuko could stay like this forever and never leave. </p><p>He tells her stories. The story about two lovers, torn apart by warring villages. The story of the moon and how the first goddess gave her life as a baby and to live on, she had to give her life in return. The story of the sun, and his warring passion with the stars, to love them and hate them, until he meets a star so bright and powerful he has no choice but to stop and stay still, if only so he could see her again. </p><p>Katara asks questions, even though she knows the answers, and Zuko tells her happily. It is their tradition and while some don’t understand, they do. </p><p>She comforts him after a fight with his father or sister. They understand the grief in each other’s hearts, even if it’s a little bit different than what they expect. </p><p>Zuko is an early bird and Katara is a night owl, but one day, right before sun up, he whispers, “You rise with the moon and I rise with the sun” in her hair and she turns to face him and say, “That’s the way it’s supposed to be. They compliment each other.” And then she tells him a story about a moon and a sun who fall in love with each other. Unlike Zuko’s stories, it has a happy ending. </p><p>They are lock and key and he wouldn’t have it any other way.</p>
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